Coalition airstrike kills 4 radio station employees in Yemen's Hodeidah

Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-17 00:23:00|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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SANAA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- A Saudi-led coalition air strike killed four employees at a radio station in Yemen's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah on Sunday, a hospital source said.

The employees were at Hodeidah Radio Station in al-Maraweah district of the port city when the air attack took place earlier Sunday, said the source on condition of anonymity, adding that they were transferred to al-Jomohoury hospital's mortuary.

The attack was part of the Saudi-led coalition push backing the Yemeni internationally recognized government forces of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to capture the city from the rebels.

The offensive was launched last week following the collapse of the UN-hosted peace talks in Geneva on Sept. 8 as the Houthi rebel delegation did not show up.

Hodeidah port is the entry point of about 70 percent of the country's food, medicines, aid and fuel imports to the rebel-controlled northwestern provinces including the capital Sanaa.

Later on Sunday, the UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths arrived in Sanaa to revive peace efforts with the Houthi officials to end war that has killed more than 10,000 people and displaced over three million.

Two previous rounds of UN-brokered peace talks had failed in 2016.

Yemen has been locked into a civil war since the Houthi rebels overran much of the country militarily and seized all northern provinces, including capital Sanaa, in 2014.

Saudi Arabia is leading an Arab military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 to support the government of Hadi after the Houthi rebels forced him into exile.